We are particularly lucky in New York state (USA) to be surrounded by water of all types. Lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, reservoirs, natural springs, waterfalls, you name it and we probably have it somewhere nearby. Chittenango Falls State Park is one of those places. It is relatively close by and has a really nice set of waterfalls that you can easily view from below. I made a trip out there a few weeks ago with a few family members and didn’t expect to have time to stop and take many pictures (any? wait – there’s always time to take at least 1 shot… right?). Anyhow, after we had made our way down the trail along the falls and to the bridge over the stream at the bottom I was wishing I’d had my tripod too. The water coming over the waterfalls was still impressive and we could feel the light mist of the spray even downstream on the little bridge. I managed a few pictures without falling too far behind and then decided to try a handheld high dynamic range (HDR) sequence. Usually I’m too shaky to manage a handheld sequence even with high shutter speeds but I always give it a try. The photo below is the result of three images blended together using Photomatix Pro and the painterly effect. Normally I try to make my HDR images look as realistic as possible rather than over the top with color but in this instance over the top looked better (hard to believe but true). We were out at mid-day with some cloud cover to help minimize the harsh lighting but my single image was not anything to write home about.
I’d write more but a massive thunderstorm is now overhead. Yikes!
The falls look as good as I remember from that afternoon!
Nice shot. Haven’t been there in years. How lucky are you!